


the proposal: how not to be deported to korea

by xXILoveMyFridgeXx



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Assistant Lance, Basically, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff and Humor, Funny, Gen, Hate to Love, M/M, Sad Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, Writer Lance (Voltron), and keith is the boss, based on a movie, because lance is his assistant, keith is marrying lance so he can stay in the country, there’s a dance, which is crazy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 15:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19871962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXILoveMyFridgeXx/pseuds/xXILoveMyFridgeXx
Summary: For three years, Lance McClain has been working as an assistant to Keith Kogane; the hard–driving editor of a New York publisher. When Keith, a Korean, faces deportation for an expired visa, he asks his assistant Lance to marry him so he can stay in the country.~•~Or: shenanigans ensue, hatred is there, love is a battle, secrets are revealed, and one chance to save Keith from being deported to his homeland.





	the proposal: how not to be deported to korea

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *watches a movie from 2009*  
> Me: *loves the movie*  
> Me: *also has three ongoing fics that needs to be updated*  
> Also Me: but what if they were klance 
> 
> Hence, this fic. 
> 
> Hello everyone! I brought you today a new fic! I hope you people will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it! 
> 
> I don’t even know if there are people who still read Klance, but I’m sure there are people like me who won’t let them go! 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you’ll enjoy!

Lance woke up to the morning light seeping through the curtains and birds chirping outside his window harmoniously. 

... and to the sound of his phone being spammed with texts. 

Lance groans and peeks one eye open, hissing at the sunlight and taking another moment to open his eyes fully. He sits upright, still disgruntled by the vibrations and sounds his phone made. He lazily took it from his bedside table and tries to read the messages through squinted eyes, trying to make sense of the words. 

_5 missed calls & 11 text messages from_ **Pidgeon**

_16 missed calls & 27 text messages from_ **Hunkadoodle**

Lance furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Why the hell did they leave so much messages? 

Wait. What time is it? 

Lance’s eyes widened and he checked the alarm clock beside him, cursing when he saw the time. _7:00_. He’s gonna be _late_. And he knows how Mr. Kogane is with tardiness! 

Lance works at the most famous publishing house in New York. The only reason he decided to work there is to publish a book of his, and what better way to do that than to work at a publishing house? For almost three years, he worked belong-side authors, agents, and frustrating employees. His personality and strong–willed attitude managed to get him higher and higher in the ranks until he became an assistant to the most–feared and well–respected editor of the business; Mr. Keith Kogane. 

Mr. Kogane is... a _very_ difficult person to deal with. There were even times where Lance just wanted to quit, but he can’t do that. In order to make his dream to publish his book come true, he needs to deal with Mr. Kogane’s infuriating ass and annoying attitude. 

And it has gotten him this far. 

That’s why, number one rule of impressing and to make Mr. Kogane publish his book is; _do not be late._

Lance immediately scrambled off the bed and went to the bathroom, stripping and quickly taking a shower with one thought in his mind. 

_I should buy a new goddamn alarm clock._

* * *

Lance hurries inside the coffee shop, exhausted from the run he had. After almost being run over by taxi cabs and people who ride bicycles, and almost running into a pole, he finally made it to Mr. Kogane’s favorite coffee shop; The Grinds of Marmora. 

(Seriously. Lance doesn’t know why Mr. Kogane likes this place so much. This place is so purple and dark and they have small wooden blade–like sticks for _stirring_ sticks!) 

Lance walks forward and immediately bumps into someone’s back. He apologized and sighs when he looks up from his phone. “Shit.” 

There was a long line of people, waiting for their coffee and making phone calls and checking their watches impatiently. And what seems to be worse is that the person at front is ordering for quite a lot of people. Lance groans, this will take _forever_ to go through. 

And it’s all because of his stupid alarm clock. 

Lance puts his hand on his hip and ran another through his hair frustratedly, thinking if there’s some sort of way around this. 

“Hey, Lance!” 

Lance looks at the cashier and saw Nyma; grinning at him and holding two cups of coffee, ready to go. Lance lets out a relieved breath and ran towards her, ignoring the shouts of disbelief the people in the line gave. Nyma handed him the two cups of coffee. “Two black coffees. One for you, and for your boss.” 

“Nyma, thank you so much.” Lance panted, giving her an apologetic smile. “And I’m _really_ sorry I made you wait this long. See, my alarm clock for five years finally broke today and I know that you’re facing a morning rush and–” 

“Lance.” Nyma cuts off. She smiled at him. “It’s fine. You know I’ll always wait for my favorite customer. Just read the note I leave for you on the cup.” She ends her sentence with a wink. 

Not thinking much of what she said, Lance gave her ten dollars and thanked her one last time before rushing outside, pushing past the busy people of New York and getting to the workplace he has been working at for over three years. 

The Voltron Publishing House.

* * *

Lance enters the building, taking a moment to catch his breath. But he instantly stopped doing that when he saw the elevator doors about to close. 

“No, no, no no _no!_ ” Lance dashes to the elevator, pushing his legs to go faster as the doors slowly slim the entrance. Thankfully, Lance slipped through the small space, hurting his right arm in the process for getting stuck. Lance sighs in relief. “Thank God.” 

The two people in the elevator looked at him weirdly, which Lance now realized that he’s unfortunately in the middle of the two very people in the company who doesn’t like him. 

Rolo. Okay, he doesn’t like him because his sister, Nyma– who works at the coffee shop– keeps flirting with him and Rolo thinks that Lance might take advantage of her to get free coffee. Which is ridiculous because Lance always pays people back for anything; either a favor or probably revenge. ~~And of course, Lance won’t let a repeat of what happened before happen again.~~ Other than Lance and Rolo’s bad history, they pretty much hate each other the first time they met. 

Kuron. Lance thinks Kuron finds him annoying. Which, fine, Lance can understand but sometimes he’s just so rude to him that it’s just unreasonable. Once, when Kuron and Mr. Kogane were arguing, Lance kept trying to calm them both and Kuron kept telling him to get away. As their fight got more heated, Lance tried to helpfully placate them both, which only made Kuron turn to him and scream, “ _I told you to stay out of this!_ ” 

(That hurts and made Lance want to snap back. But he can’t because Kuron is his superior and he can’t do anything about that.) 

(But when Kuron snapped at him, Mr. Kogane had the last straw and demoted him on the spot. He said and Lance quote, that “ _Nobody gets to talk that way to my assistant._ ”) 

(Which made Lance respect him, for a little bit, even though he hates him with his whole heart.) 

“Late now, huh? Mr. Kogane’s _assistant_.” Kuron tsk, crossing his arms over his chest. “Lousy and pushy. Never knew those were the requirements of being an assistant.” 

Why does he have to deal with this first thing in the morning? Lance tried to hold in his groan and forced a smile on his face. “Good morning, Mr. Kuron. I must say, that working in the lower departments fits you so well.” 

Lance knows he hits a sore spot by mentioning his demotion. Kuron sneers at him. “You sly little–” 

“Is that Grinds of Marmora?” Rolo speaks up, and Lance turns to look at him. He was seething. “I told you to look for another coffee shop!” 

“Sure, I will.” Lance replies, smiling at him sweetly. “Tell me that when you get promoted to a higher position than my boss.”

Rolo growled threateningly. 

“Or...” Lance drawled out. “Do you want to go to court again?” 

“ _McClain!_ ” 

The doors dinged, and Lance smiled at the two of them once more before going out. He sighs as he glances at the closed elevator behind him. “Man, those two are really annoying–” 

Before he could finish his sentence, he bumped into another employee, spilling Mr. Kogane’s coffee all over his clothes and the guy’s clothes. 

“Oh, come _on!_ ” Lance snarled, hissing a bit as the hot liquid seeped through his clothes and made contact with his skin. The guy, who didn’t even look up, apologized for a quick second before walking away. Lance grumbled, picking up Mr. Kogane’s empty cup from the floor and throwing it inside a garbage bin.

Thank goodness he always orders two black coffees. So if any unfortunate accidents like this happens, he could always give the other coffee to Mr. Kogane while he goes through the day coffeeless and pushing himself to be energetic. 

Lance goes inside Mr. Kogane’s office, thanking the gods above when he saw that his boss wasn’t here yet. If Mr. Kogane saw him drenched in coffee, he knows he’ll earn another negative point in his book. 

And he _really_ does not want that. 

He placed his coat and coffee on his worktable and rushed outside, walking over to his best friend Hunk’s work desk. He must’ve sensed him coming because Hunk immediately sighed and turned on his chair, crossing his arms while raising an eyebrow at him. “I texted you twenty seven times to tell you that if you didn’t hurry, you would be late. And yet, you didn’t reply to _any_ of them and you _still_ end up coming in late.” 

Lance sighs and ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. “Look, Hunk, I’m sorry. It’s... a crazy morning.” Lance clasped his hands together. “Can you please, _please_ , lend me one of your long–sleeved shirts? Mr. Kogane might come in any minute and I really need to be dressed properly.” 

Lance gave Hunk the puppy eyes, and it only took a moment before Hunk sighs, giving in. “They’re in Pidge’s office.” 

Lance grins. He knew he can count on Hunk. “Thanks buddy!” He ran off down the other side of the room (which is pretty far, by the way) and entered Pidge’s office, causing her and another person– that she’s possibly interviewing– look up. Pidge throws her hands up. “ _Now_ he shows up!” 

“Sorry Pidge, I have no time to argue right now.” Lance announced, heading to their shared closet. 

When the three of them started here, they were all pretty lost in the job. And it took a while to get them to the positions they want to have (well, except for Lance). Hunk was a regular employee at the Research Department before he passed a written report on rare, crucial information and helped with editing that he was promoted to Research Editor. 

Pidge, of course, signed up at the electronics department. But after an incident with her yelling at her fellow coworker for publishing the code wrong, the Chairman, who saw her potential, decided to assign Pidge to the role for twenty four hours. Naturally, Pidge did an amazing job and was promoted to Electronic Publishing Officer, and with that, she was also promoted to a new office. With a new long desk, four desktops, three soft chairs around a glass table, and a _huge_ closet in the corner.

Which is really good for keeping their things in. 

Pidge kept her inventions there because she doesn’t trust them to be alone at home, especially with her brother, Matt. Lance keeps there his guitar and other knickknacks from his hometown, Cuba. Hunk, the amazing sweetheart he is, keeps his tea set and extra clothes there, in case any accidents like this happens. 

(Before, they weren’t this prepared. They used to face stuff the regular way; live, make mistakes, and learn from them.) 

(But now, after that incident a year ago, they always need to be prepared. The three of them only have each other, and they have to have each other’s backs.) 

“Me and Hunk were worried _sick!_ ” Pidge exclaims, standing up from her chair and surprising the blonde–haired girl across her. Pidge glances at her. “Sorry, Romelle.” 

The girl, Romelle, smiles and waves it off. “Oh, it’s alright–” 

“Look, my alarm clock was busted, okay?” Lance grumbles, unbuttoning his shirt and throwing it inside. He glances behind him and looks at Romelle warily. “Are you comfortable with me being half–naked like this?” 

Romelle nods and smiles awkwardly. “Yeah, it’s alright. I– uh, have a girlfriend.” 

“Oh. That’s cool. I’m bi.” Lance smiles and goes back to picking the right shirt to wear in front of Mr. Kogane. He doesn’t like green, and yellow makes him queasy, and of course, his signature color is red. Which only leaves him with a choice of blue or black. 

Blue is Lance’s favorite color. It’s the color of the ocean, the color of the sky, and the color of their planet from far, far away. Blue always attracted Lance, and he doesn’t know why. 

But... after red, Mr. Kogane’s next favorite color is black. And. Well. Lance doesn’t know why. All he knows that his boss is emo and he really needs to get on his good side. 

“Lance, you _cannot_ let this happen again.” Pidge fumed, slamming her hand on her desk loudly. Lance hears a yelp from behind him– probably just Romelle– and rolled his eyes. “You’re overreacting.” 

Lance decided to put on the blue shirt. He buttons it on and turns to face Pidge, raising his eyebrows at her. Now that Lance has the time to notice it, Pidge looked a bit more stressed than usual. Bags were under her eyes, her glasses were askew, and her short hair is somehow messed up and strands were everywhere. “Jeez girl, you interview people with those luggages under your eyes?” 

Pidge responded to his joke slash insult with a blank face. “Har har. So funny. I am totally not aware of the heavy bags under my eyes, Lance. Thank you so much for pointing them out.” 

Lance squints his eyes at her in suspicion. Something’s weird. Normally, Pidge would take the bait and insult him back, but she seems way too out of the mood to do that today. Lance walks over to her as he buttons the last button on his shirt. “What’s wrong? Bad morning?” 

Pidge falls on her chair, massaging her temples with a mumble. “You have no idea.” 

“What happened?” Lance asks softly, going to her side and rubbing her shoulder assuringly. Pidge gave him a strained smile and placed her hand on top of his. She then turns to her screen. “It’s just... I worked so hard on this and... the Vice Chairman didn’t even _look_ at it before declaring it was useless.” She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled. “It makes me so _frustrated_.” 

“Pidge, come on.” Lance murmurs. “You’re amazing. Your work is incredible, and if the Vice Chairman doesn’t see that, then it’s his loss.” 

Pidge smiled at Lance gratefully. “Thank you, Lance.” 

“Uh, excuse me?” Both Pidge and Lance looked at their side and saw Romelle staring at them weirdly. She gestured her finger at them back and forth, looking like a lost puppy. “Are you two normally... like this? Fight and then transition to friends again?” 

Lance grinned at her while Pidge shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.” 

“I like her.” Lance comments. He fixes his sleeves and saluted at Pidge. “Make sure to hire her.” He then exits her office and rushed to his own, knowing that Mr. Kogane might come in any minute now. 

He enters the room and collapsed on his chair, already tired even if he hasn’t started working yet. The phone rings. He sighs, well. Here it goes. Lance picks it up. 

“Mr. Kogane’s office, how may I help you?” 

* * *

“Kolivan, don’t worry about Sendak. I’ll take care of it.” Keith checks his watch as he crosses the street, knowing that he’ll probably be late. “I’ll make sure to publish your book, and no one will stand in your way. You’ve helped me, so it’s fair that I help you.” 

Keith walks inside the building and the employees around greeted him instantly. He payed them no mind as he walked to the elevator and stepped in. “Kolivan, don’t worry. People are gonna want to read your book. So let me take care of it, okay? Bye.” 

He puts his phone in his pocket as the elevator chimed. He stepped out and walked across the room, ignoring all the other employees who stopped walking to greet him. Seriously. If they have time to greet him, then they also have time to work! Why are they wasting their time on useless greetings?! 

Keith enters his office and sighed in relief when he saw Lance there, talking to someone on the phone. He must’ve heard him come in because he took the coffee cup on his table and held it up. Keith took it from his hand and went to his own desk, sitting down comfortably on his chair. He takes a sip of the bitter coffee, feeling energized already. 

This morning was just so stressful. His car broke down so he had to walk to work, which, by the way, his house was one hour away from. Normally, it would take an hour for him to go the company, but since he doesn’t have any sort of transportation, he had to walk, and that took him longer to arrive than he’s supposed to. 

Another problem is that the Immigration Office keeps on calling him for who knows why. Keith never does answer them– thinking it’s a waste of time to do so. 

While Keith tries to forget his horrible start in the day and organizes his desk, Lance said, “Okay, thank you.” And hung up the phone. He stood up and walked to Keith’s side with a smile. “Hello, boss. You have a conference call in twenty minutes.” 

“Yes, about the marketing and the spring books, I know.” Keith replies, logging into his computer and searching for the email Kolivan sent him about his book. 

“And a staff meeting in nine.” Lance checks his watch, probably setting off a timer. 

“Yes, okay.” Keith says. He looks at Lance. “Did you call her? You know, the one with the scar on her eye?” 

“Zethrid?” Lance helpfully supplies. Keith nods. “Yes, I did, and I told her that if she didn’t pass her manuscript on time, she won’t get a release date.” 

Keith nods and turns to the paperwork on his desk, smiling slightly when he saw Ezor’s published book with a post–it note that says, ‘ _Thank you so much, Mr. Kogane! You made my dream come true!’_. He opened his drawer and threw the book in there, not really having that much use to him since he did read it a lot of times during the editing process. 

“There’s also a call from the Immigration office–” Lance started. 

“Cancel the call, push the conference meeting tomorrow and keep the lawyer in the sheets.” Keith stated, taking a quick look on the paperwork on his desk before signing them and handing them to Lance. “Oh, and get a hold of PR and have them start drafting a press release. Kolivan is doing _Guns of Gamara_.” 

Lance seems to deflate at that, his shoulders visibly dropping. “Oh. Nicely done.” Keith raises an eyebrow at him and Lance blows out a sigh and walked over to his desk, putting down all the paperwork and organizing them like what he’s supposed to do. Keith grins. 

Lance, though he only worked for him for two years, is a very competent man. Hard working and clear–headed are the most respectable traits Keith admires of him. He’s also quite perceptive, when given the chance. And Keith is very lucky to have him as his assistant. 

But Keith isn’t an idiot. He knows that Lance wants to publish a book of his own, and he has been dropping hints of that since the past year. Keith just ignores his signs and always tells him the same straightforward thing he always tells him; “ _You will never publish a book_.” 

(Though it makes Keith guilty, it’s the truth. Lance is just... he’s too immature and inexperienced. He’s not fit to write and publish a book.) 

Keith picks up his coffee and was about to drink, before some letters on the cup caught his eye. “Who’s Nyma?” 

Lance froze, blinking slowly while turning his head to face him. 

“And why does she want me to call her?” Keith turns his cup to show Lance the writing on it. 

‘ _Call me! XXX-XXX-XXX_ -Nyma’ 

He raised his eyebrow at him. Lance better have an explanation for this. 

“Uh.” Lance stood up and winced. “That was originally my cup.” 

“And I’m drinking your coffee _why?_ ” 

“Because your coffee spilled.” Lance admits, going back to the paperwork and stapling pairs together. Keith looks at him in approval. Honest. Keith respects that. He takes another sip of the bitter drink and tries to keep the conversation going. “So, you drink black coffee too?” 

“I do.” Lance answers, taking out an envelope from his drawer and putting in the pieces of papers that he stapled. “It’s dark and bitter like my soul.” 

“Is that a coincidence?” Keith asks the same time the phone rings. 

“Incredibly.” Lance smiles and turns his head to face him. “I mean, I wouldn’t possibly drink the same coffee as you drink just in case yours spilled, that would be pathetic. Hello, Mr. Kogane’s office, how may I help you?” 

Keith checks his watch and sighs, wondering how long the staff meeting will take. He’s really not in the mood to have a meeting right now. Lance sighs. “Hey Sendak.” 

Keith perks up at the name. Lance noticed and looked at him questioningly. Keith gestured his fingers around, and Lance took the signal. “Actually, we’re coming to your office right now. Okay, bye.” 

Keith stands up and fixed his cuffs as Lance gave him a confused expression. “Uh, why are we going to Sendak’s office?” 

Keith raised up his fingers one by one, hoping that Lance will get the message. Naturally, he did. He sighs and shakes his head in sorrow. “Poor Sendak.” Keith rolls his eyes. Sendak is a jerk and they both know it. He hates him, and he knows that Lance hates him too. They both exit his office, heading down to Sendak’s office for some serious business. 

As they arrived, Lance opened the door for Keith and they both enter, faking smiles as they greet Sendak. Sendak smiles and stands up from his chair, gesturing his arms wide. “Why, Mr. Kogane and his assistant! Why have I been pleasured by your visit today?” 

Even though Keith told people to address Lance by his last name, _like all workers are supposed to be called_ , there are still assholes like Sendak who don’t listen. Keith glanced at Lance, making sure he’s okay with the way Sendak called him. Surprisingly, Lance had no reaction and was still wearing a smile– fake or real, Keith doesn’t know– and looked at Keith with expectant eyes, conveying how much he wants to get this over with. Keith looks back at Sendak and smiled again. “Well, me and Lance visited today to deliver some news to you.” 

“That seems fantastic.” Sendak checks his watch. “But can it wait after the staff meeting? I have something important to take care of, _especially_ with Kolivan’s book. His book is taking forever to edit, it’s difficult and confusing and hard to publish, so I’m planning to drop him. I just need some stamps of approval and–” 

What a liar. 

“Oh, actually, that’s why I’m here.” Keith interrupts with a big smile, preventing himself to expose this man on the spot. But since he’s nice, he’ll let this one slide. “Except, it wasn’t hard at all. Oh no, I just did some few tweaks and fixes and bam; it’s done. Which is why we’re pushing through with the publishing, and why we’re letting you go.” 

In the business, the phrase, “ _We’re letting you go_ ” is just another way of saying, “ _You’re fired_.” And that’s exactly what’s happening right now. 

(The reason why Keith gestured Lance his fingers one by one is because it’s how many letters Sendak will be; F-I-R-E-D.) 

(Keith doesn’t even know how he came up with that. Or _who_. Throughout the two years Lance and him worked together, they just keep coming up with these weird signals and inside jokes and obtuse signs that only they understand.) 

(Keith won’t admit this to anyone, but he secretly loves that there are some things that only he and Lance can share. There’s something satisfying and an odd thrill in having some sort of strange language that only they know.) 

Sendak’s face immediately turned from smiling pleasantly to wide–eyed and jaw–slacked in seconds. Lance whistled lowly underneath his breath. “Three milliseconds. New record for realizing the message.” 

Keith tried to prevent himself from laughing and kept smiling sweetly at Sendak, who, by the way, was seconds away from lashing out. 

“What...” Sendak muttered, low and deep, his hands visibly shaking and his voice having a dark tone in it. Lance tensed up and took a step forward, ready to defend Keith at any time, but Keith held up a hand, indicating for Lance to stop. 

Keith finished his coffee and threw it away at the trash bin beside Sendak’s desk. He kept the forced and fake smile on his face as he looked back at him. “But don’t worry, I won’t just let you go on the spot. I will give you two, no, four months to look for another job and finish packing your stuff and paperwork here. Then you can go.” 

He takes a step back, and fixes his cuffs, flashing Sendak one last grin. “We are done here. Now, if you’ll excuse us, there is a meeting Lance and I need to attend in...” 

“Four minutes.” Lance whispered. 

“Four minutes.” Keith repeated. He starts to walk towards the door, not before leaving with one last nail on the head. “Thank you for the time you spent here, Sendak. But unfortunately, your time is up.” 

They exit the office. As they walk, Lance looked back, sighing slightly. “He’s moving around his office, he has crazy eyes, and he’s looking outside.” 

“Don’t do it, Sendak.” Keith whispers. He’s already tired enough as it is, he doesn’t want to deal with Sendak’s crap this time. Lance checked his watch, counting down quietly but loud enough for Keith to hear. “And five, four, three, two...” 

“You poisonous bastard!” Sendak shouts, his voice echoing inside the big room. Half of all the employees stopped their work to stare, whispering and wondering what was happening. Some didn’t even bother to look up from their monitors, already knowing too damn well that Sendak is a goddamn goner if he thinks he can take down Keith Kogane. “You can’t fire me!” 

Keith sighs and turns to look at him, raising an eyebrow while Lance leaned on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Lance was right– Sendak _did_ have the crazy eyes. It looked so manic and wide, and they were bulging so much that Keith wanted to look away from the revolting sight, but he stood his ground and stared right into them, letting Sendak go off in his crazy monologue. “You don’t think I can see what you’re doing here?! Sandbagging me on this damn book thing so you can look good to the board?!” 

“I bet you five dollars he’s gonna say something ridiculous.” Lance mutters. 

“Because you are threatened by me!” Sendak wildly accuses, a crazy, proud–filled smile on his face as if what he said is something to take pride on. “And you are a heartless _monster!_ ” 

“Knew it.” Lance sighs. He pushes himself off the wall and made a step towards him, cautious but also intimidating. “Sendak, whatever you’re doing, _stop_.” 

“Let him talk, Lance.” Keith says, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I’d like to see where this would turn out.” 

“Just because you have no _semblance_ of a life outside of this office, you think you can control all of us like your own personal slaves?!” Sendak screamed, laughing like a lunatic and looking around, expecting everyone to laugh with him. Nobody did. “You know what? I feel _sorry_ for you. Because you know what you’re going to have on your deathbed? _Nothing_ and _no one_. All you’re going to be your whole life is _alone_ and _outcasted_ because _nobody will ever understand you._ ” 

He ended his sentence with an arrogant smirk, his chest puffed out and his hands on his hips in a proud manner. Lance hissed and took another step forward. “I _warned_ you–” 

Lance stopped and looked back when Keith had caught his shoulder once more, stepping back when he saw the steely glint in his eyes. Lance immediately stopped talking when he realized what that look meant. It wouldn’t appear much often, but when it did, Lance learned that it’s better to just let him be rather than fight against it. 

(He did, once, and it resulted to one of the worst days in his entire life and one of the days Pidge and Hunk went from friends to overprotective family who always looked out for him.) 

Keith walks towards Sendak until they were face to face. The people in the office were holding their breath, waiting for what Keith would say next that would inevitably ruin Sendak’s whole reputation. “Listen carefully, Sendak.” Keith mutters lowly, almost growling, as the next words that come out from his mouth destroy the very image Sendak has built for himself. 

“I didn’t fire you because I feel ‘ _threatened_ ’.” Keith laughs, monotonously as he shakes his head. “No, I fired you because you’re lazy, entitled, incompetent, and you spend more time cheating on your wife than you do in this office.” 

“Damn.” Lance murmurs softly under his breath. 

Keith continued to stare into Sendak’s eyes with his own, challenging them to fight him back, and knowing that he’ll win even if he tries to. “And if you say another word, Lance here is gonna throw out your ass.” 

“I–”

“ _Another word_ ,” Keith threatens, eyes going hard and his hands balled into fists at his sides as he tries to prevent himself from punching this jackass straight at the face. “And you’re going out here with an armed escort, and Lance will film it with his phone and put it on that internet site– what’s that called?” Keith looks at Lance for the answer. 

“Youtube.” Lance helpfully supplies. 

“Exactly. Is that what you want?” Keith looked back at Sendak, seeing his conflicted and look of pure defeat on his face as the seconds pass by. “I didn’t think so.” 

Good, he should feel defeated. First, he disrespects Lance, and then Keith. The first one was enough to make Keith want to punch him on the spot, but then Sendak goes and makes a bigger scene, completely wasting his and Lance’s time. 

If he’s going to put up a fight, he should at least do it right. And yet, like all the other things he’s ridiculously bad at, he failed at that too. 

Another moment passed, and finally Sendak’s shoulders fell, completely giving up. Keith wanted to keep going, to absolutely murder him verbally (and possibly punch the guy in the nose), but Lance puts a hand on his shoulder, slowly dragging him back. Keith feels a strange calmness wash over him as Lance pulls him in his right side, gently rubbing his shoulder in a comfort that only Lance manages to bring him. Keith looks at Lance’s face and saw the emotionless expression on it, so different from the face of the most expressive person in the universe. “Mr. Kogane and I renounce our previous statement. Since you have disrespected, disregarded, and uncivilly shouted at Mr. Kogane with words that are contempt, lack of manners, and are filled with derision, I declare that we will only be giving you two days to get your things out of the office and go out with no escort from the guards.” 

Keith refrains himself from grinning. Now that’s his hard worker! Lance’s eyes hardened at Sendak, causing the man himself to gulp nervously under the gaze. “If you fail to do that, then I will personally, as Mr. Kogane put it, _throw out your ass._ ” 

* * *

Keith and Lance arrive back at their office, exhausted from dealing with Sendak. Honestly, Keith is glad he’s fired now. He doesn’t think he can go through another day dealing with Sendak’s crap. Keith took off his coat and placed it on the coatrack. “I could’ve handled it, Lance.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Lance scoffed, placing his pad and tablet down his desk. He took off his own coat and hung it on the back of his seat, showing off his blue shirt that fitted his body perfectly. Keith isn’t that fond of the color blue– red has always been his favorite color– but Lance always manages to pull it off quite nicely. “Face it; I’m your impulse control. If I let another second go by, you would’ve recklessly done something that would make people hate you more.” 

“I don’t care what people think of me.” Keith mutters, crossing his arms over his chest petulantly, not wanting to admit that Lance is actually right. 

Lance chuckles, looking at Keith with a raised brow. “Sure, but I do.” 

Keith rolls his eyes, walking over to his desk and typing a quick email to Kolivan about the editing process. “Oh, Lance, I need you this weekend to review files and manuscripts.” 

Lance froze, turning his head slowly to Keith. “ _This_ weekend?” 

“Yeah, do you have a problem with that?” Keith raised his eyebrows questioningly at him, wondering why it was such a big deal. They do this all the time. There would be times where they had to overwork in the weekends to get some extra work done, and it would be no problem to Lance at all. In fact, Lance would agree right away when Keith would ask that of him. 

“No, I– I just,” Lance clears his throat, scratching the back of his head nervously. Keith got more curious. “My grandmother’s birthday is this weekend and I was going to ask for a two weeks’ off of work and–” Keith gave him a blank look. “You know, it’s fine. I’ll just cancel it. You’re actually saving me from two weeks of misery anyway.” 

Keith smiled, and turned back to his work. 

* * *

“I still have to break the news to my parents.” Lance sighs, sipping his coffee as he slouches down on the chair. “They’ll be disappointed.” 

After getting some initial work done, Lance finally managed to have his break. Before heading off to Pidge’s office to have their usual conversation with Hunk, he quickly walks across the street to order coffee (which he didn’t get to have this morning because of that annoying employee) and went up to Pidge’s office to complain about his boss like always. 

“It’ll be alright, Lance.” Pidge says offhandedly, biting into her Subway sandwich. She moaned as she chewed. “Man, I _love_ Subway. They make the best sandwiches ever.” 

“I was the one who suggested you that place.” Hunk mutters under his breath. He turns to Lance, smiling at him sheepishly. “Have you tried telling him no?” 

“No!” Lance exclaims, pouting as he sunk in further in his seat. “And you know I can’t do that! If I want to publish my book, I need that promotion. And to get that promotion is to do whatever it takes to be as useful as possible to Mr. Kogane so he can see my potential to be an editor!” 

“But he won’t, Lance!” Pidge shouts through a mouthful of bread and tomatoes and other sorts of meat. “He said it before, and he’ll probably say it again!” 

Something spiked in Lance’s chest, and he refuses to show how much Mr. Kogane’s words from before affected him until now. “ _Pidge_.” Hunk warns, giving her a knowing glare. Pidge pouts, and goes back to eating her sandwich, guilt leaking through her features. Hunk turns back to Lance. “What she means to say is that just because you work hard and do everything Mr. Kogane asks of you, doesn’t mean that’s the only way to get him to see your true potential.” 

Lance frowns, and looks down, knowing that they’re right. They’re _always_ right. 

“Buddy, if you’re always going to be on Mr. Kogane’s beck and call, that’s all he’s going to think of you; a hard working assistant, and nothing more.” Hunk says softly. Lance sighs and avoids his eyes, knowing that they’re filled with concern, for him. “Lance, if you’re not gonna up your game, or if Mr. Kogane is still blind to the skill you have, then you either need to convince him, or quit and find another editor who will.” 

Lance runs a hand down his face. “You’re right. _Of course_ you’re right.” He knows he can’t keep being an assistant forever. Eventually, there will be chances for him to take and if he keeps being at Mr. Kogane’s side, he won’t be able to take those chances. 

But he can’t help but listen to the little voice inside him that maybe, _maybe_ Mr. Kogane would listen to him. Maybe one day, he’d finally see him as someone who was enough and give him a chance to publish his own novel. That maybe... maybe he didn’t have to act with a bravado just to be noticed. 

Pidge clears her throat, clearly seeing how Lance’s mind was going to _that_ dark place again. “So! Lance! How about run your story with us again? Hunk and I will try to find the parts which needs fixing.” 

“Yeah!” Hunk pipes in, nodding supportively. 

Lance immediately smiles and jumps up from his seat, picking up his manuscript from the table. “If you guys insist, then okay! The story begins with Akira, riding his way through the broken roads of _Altea_ with his hoverbike...” 

Pidge and Hunk exchange a secret smile, both already knowing what will happen next but still listening for Lance’s sake. They both know how much this means to him, and if they have to listen to his story a million of times to make Lance believe in himself and his book, then they would very much damn well do it. 

(They were ignorant and let him reach low once, and they decided, on that fateful night as they waited in the hospital, that they will _never_ let that happen again.) 

* * *

Lance went back to the office, walking over to his desk and taking a seat. He bites his lips as he looked at the phone, wondering if he should make the call which will inevitably drain all of his energy. He sighs and dials the number, waiting patiently for someone to pick up. 

Maybe this is a bad idea. 

Just before Lance could back out, somebody already answered. “Hello? McClain residence.” 

Lance clears his throat and instantly recognizes that voice as his mother’s. “Hey, Mama.” 

“Lance!” His mom exclaims happily, voice filled with so much excitement that makes Lance extremely guilty on what he’s about to say next. “How are you, my precious Paladin?” 

Lance laughs nervously, feeling a little calm when his mother said the nickname she always called him ever since he was a kid. “Mama, I have some news for you.” 

“Oh! Did you finally get the promotion you always wanted?” His mom asks excitedly, and Lance felt a pang in his chest, knowing that when he breaks the news, she’d be disappointed in no time flat. 

“No, Mama.” Lance swallows, rubbing his temple with a sigh. “I... I can’t go this weekend.” 

For a moment, there was silence. And Lance was afraid that his mom probably hung up on him. “Mama?” 

“Why, Lance?” His mom whispers softly, a hint of unhappiness in her tone that she tries desperately to cover up. “This is... this is the only week in the whole _year_ that we get to see you.” 

Feeling more guilty, Lance started to explain. “I know, I know. Just tell Abuelita I’m sorry, okay?” 

“Is it because of your boss again?” His mom demands, sharp and clearly not hiding the anger in her tone. “Why else would you miss on your Abuelita’s birthday celebration?” 

Lance sighs and pinches the corner of his nose, his shoulders falling down and a deep breath leaving his mouth. “Mama, what do you want me to tell you? He’s making me work this weekend.” 

“Is that Lance?” Lance heard a voice said in the distant background. Lance groans. Veronica. “Let me talk to him.” 

“Ronnie, I just can’t–” Lance starts, but he’s immediately cut off by Veronica’s loud yelling. 

“Lance Charles McClain!” Veronica barked, angry and fuming with complete and absolute fury. “What is this I hear about you not attending Abuelita’s birthday celebration?! You better be joking, hermano–” 

“Veronica, I’m not.” Lance tries. 

“I will not take no for an answer!” Veronica interrupts, and Lance can feel her intense rage even through the phone. “You can say no to any other celebration; Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween–” 

“I’m sorry, Ronica,” Lance sighs. “But I’m doing something important this weekend–” 

“But not _this_ one!” Veronica continues, completely ignoring Lance’s explanations. “If your boss doesn’t know how to take a break, then you should quit that job!” 

“No.” Lance hisses. “Listen, I’ve worked too hard to get a promotion, and this could be my chance–” 

“What would Papa say about this?” Veronica states coldly. “You know very well that he will be disappointed.” 

Lance scoffs. Sure. His dad only cares about him on times where he needs him. Other than that, he doesn’t care about him at all. What kind of father doesn’t support his own son? “I’m sure Papa will be pissed, but I am serious. I’m not going this weekend.” 

Lance flinched as he puts the phone far from his ear, but it was still useless because he can still hear Veronica furiously cursing in Spanish, warning him that he better be there for the weekend and if not, she will personally come to New York to beat the life out of Lance’s ass. 

And of course, she said that all in Spanish and with extra curse words that Lance would rather leave out. 

Lance hangs up the phone, leaning back on his chair in frustration. 

“Was that your family?” Mr. Kogane asks from behind him. Instead of being surprised like the first times he does that when Mr. Kogane sneaks up on him, Lance turned on his chair and gave Mr. Kogane a strained smile. “Yes.” 

Mr. Kogane crosses his arms over his chest. “Are they telling you to quit?” 

Lance nods the same time the phone rings. “Every single day.” Lance picks up the phone. “Hello, Mr. Kogane’s office.” 

“Lance!” Lance’s eyes widened slightly when he heard the Chairman’s voice. “Could you please send Keith up here?” 

“Of course, sir.” Lance answered and hung up. He turns to face Keith. “The Chairman would like to see you upstairs.” 

Keith groans and shakes his head. “Damn it, Shiro.” He checks his watch. “Fine. But if it takes longer than five minutes, I need you to come get me there.” 

“Will do, sir.” 

After Lance said that, Keith promptly left. Lance frowns and looks back at the phone, remembering his mother’s words from earlier. 

“ _Did you finally get the promotion you always wanted?_ ” 

He wonders when he’ll finally be able to say “ _Yes_ ” to that question. 

~~ Probably never.  ~~

* * *

Keith takes the elevator up to the Chairman– or Shiro’s– office. He knocked twice, and opened the door when he heard a voice say, “Come in!” 

He pops his head in and smiles, trying not to frown in confusion when he saw Vice Chairman Zarkon there. 

When the company started, his brother, Shiro, and Zarkon were always rivals. Desperately trying to one–up each other for the Chairman position. When the previous Chairman chose to give Shiro his position, Zarkon got stuck at being the second. 

Though Shiro doesn’t show his hatred for Zarkon that much, Keith does. Or did, until Shiro told him to cut it out and start acting mature. That didn’t stop Keith from insulting or disrespecting Zarkon through backhanded words though. 

And Lance said that only the Chairman wanted to see him. Why was Zarkon here too? 

“Chairman Shirogane,” Keith acknowledged politely. “ _Zarkon_.”

Zarkon looked ticked off when Keith didn’t acknowledge his position, but Shiro thankfully started talking to prevent any fights from happening. “Keith, congratulations on the _Guns of Gamara_ book. I see you have handled it accordingly.” 

“Thank you, Chairman.” Keith smiles. “But may I ask why I’m here?” 

Shiro sighs and places down a couple of papers. Keith became confused, even more so when he saw a tint of a smirk on Zarkon’s lips. “Keith, do you remember when we agreed that you wouldn’t go to the UK book fair because you weren’t allowed out of the country while your visa application was being processed?” 

He remembers that. The day Shiro broke the news to him, he was devastated. He always did wanted to go to that book fair. Famous authors and editors were there– even his favorite author, _V. Atlas_ was there and he didn’t even get to _meet_ them. But he doesn’t know why that’s being brought up now. “Yes, I do.” 

The look on Shiro’s face was pure pity, while Zarkon had a pleased expression, as if he has the upper hand in something. “We just spoke to your immigration attorney.” 

“Great.” Keith really doesn’t know where they’re going with this. “So, we’re all good? Everything’s fine, right?” 

“No, Keith.”  Shiro exhales. He fixes his gaze on his desk, avoiding Keith’s curious and confused stare, which Keith notices is a _very_ bad sign. Shiro _never_ looks away from his eyes– no matter what. He only ever does that when they’re talking about something serious or if he’s lying to him. 

And Keith has a bad feeling this has something to do with the former. 

“Your visa application has been denied.” Shiro stated after a moment, finally meeting Keith’s eyes and showing the helplessness in them. “And you are being deported back to Korea.” 

In situations like these, people describe their shock as “ _hit by a hundred of bricks_ ” or “ _hit by a truck_ ” or even “ _felt their breath escape from their lungs_ ”. People describe their shock and surprise in a hundred different ways– ranging from anger, distress, melancholy, fright, or even a madness where they react very contradictory to what they’re reaction is supposed to be. 

An example of that would be like this; if someone had told another person that their father is dead, one would typically react to that sort of news in anguish, grieve over the loss of their blood–relative. But some people do not react that way. Oh no, they react to that certain news no one would expect them to; they laugh. Crazily. Maniacally. They don’t weep or sob, they smile because they have a very late reaction to the very horrible news given to them. Or, they _do_ realize the news, but can’t process the grief and copes with it the only way they know how. 

But none of those are the emotions that’s swirling inside Keith right now. 

Oh, no. 

He’s... his mind is just _blank_. 

Blank because he really does not know how to react. Blank, because he’s trying to search for any lie on Shiro’s face, _any_ trace of deception through his remorse–filled gaze, but found absolutely nothing. Blank, because he wants to feel _something_ , sadness, anger, complete shock at the news, but just nothing. It’s all just... blank. 

“Deported?” Keith stressed, feeling an emotion, _something_ – that he can’t quite name– rise in him and... and he can’t comprehend this feeling and his voice just gets higher unknowingly the more he speaks. “But– _why?_ ” 

Shiro connects his fingers together, looking disappointed and thoroughly reluctant to continue. Zarkon, with an underlying tone of glee, decided to speak up for him. “Apparently, there were also some paperwork that you didn’t fill out in time.” 

Keith winced. Shit. He remembers Shiro always reminding him to fill out the remaining paperwork– if there were any– so they wouldn’t have a problem later. Keith remembers waving off Shiro’s concern and telling him that he’ll do it, but he doesn’t remember _ever_ doing it. All he knows is that he started to work the moment Shiro left the house to go to the UK book fair. 

“Come on.” Keith laughs nervously, trying his best to hide the shakiness in his voice. He can’t be deported. He _can’t_. “There’s gotta be _something_ we can do.” 

“We can reapply.” Shiro recommended and Keith feels a shred of hope surge in him. “But unfortunately, you have to leave the country for at least a year.” 

That’s... that’s bad, but he can make this work. “Okay, okay, that’s not ideal but I can manage everything even if I’m in Korea and videoconferencing and through the internet and I can–” 

“Unfortunately, Keith.” Zarkon chided, and Keith tried with all his willpower not to glare at the man for interrupting him. “If you’re deported, you can’t work for an American company.” 

Keith turned to Shiro hopelessly, desperately wishing that this isn’t true. That this was all some sort of prank and Keith is not being deported and about to lose his job. Shiro’s eyes held no lies. Zarkon steps up again, smirking in arrogance and gazing at Keith with his condescending eyes. “Until this is resolved, Chairman Shirogane and I will have to turn operations over to Sendak.” 

When Keith though that he can’t be anymore surprised than he is, _boy_ is he wrong. Keith sputters out disbelievingly, his ability to speak properly gone and his words becoming gibberish with rage. Turn operations over to _Sendak?_ That is an absolutely _ridiculous_ and _foolish_ plan. “Sendak? The guy I _just_ fired?” 

“We need an editor–in–chief.” Zarkon declared simply, as if Keith doesn’t know that already. “He’s the only person in this building who has enough experience.” 

Keith resisted the urge to scoff. Experience? Yeah right. The only experience Sendak has in the company is to avoid any hard work, find the best hideout places where he can cheat on his wife, and wasting his money buying useless stuff and dealing with pointless matters that aren’t even a _part_ of his work. If Zarkon calls _that_ experience, then he is stupid and crazy and actually lost his goddamn mind. 

Keith turns to his brother again, conveying how distressed he is and how much he doesn’t want to lose his job. Shiro looked guilty– even if it isn’t his fault that Keith was an idiot who forgot to do some unfinished paperwork– and clearly defeated, and Keith knows that when Shiro loses hope– _the_ Shiro who never gives up, _the_ Shiro who always found the bright in everything– that there’s no fucking hope for Keith now. “Shiro, you cannot be serious. There’s gotta be something. I _beg_ of you–” 

“Keith, we are desperate to have you stay.” Shiro assures softly. _And by ‘we’ you mean you because Zarkon obviously doesn’t want Keith here_ – “If there is any way, _any way_ at all that we can make this thing work, we’d be doing it.” 

Keith was about to plead once more, beg until they find a way to make him  stay , until the door opened and Lance’s head popped in the room. Shiro notices him instantly. “Excuse me, Mr. McClain, but we’re in a meeting.” 

“I’m sorry I interrupt.” Lance apologizes and Keith turns to him with a glare because can’t he see he’s doing something important? Like finding out a way to keep his job and not be deported to his homeland?! 

“What?” Keith hisses, trying to signal him to leave. But Lance continued talking and ignored his signs. “Zethrid from the office called. And she’s on the line, and she’s on hold, and you need to speak with her right away.” 

“I know, I know.” Keith sighs, frustrated by all of these events coming up at once. Can’t he handle something one problem at a time? A look on confusion passed Lance’s face, but it was quickly gone. And then Keith remembers why he’s here. 

He told him to get him after five minutes. And now Keith feels like a jerk for being an asshole to him when Lance was only doing something Keith specifically told him to do. 

“I told her you were engaged in a meeting.” Lance continues hesitantly, and Keith knows he’s trying not to frustrate him any further because that’s just how selfless he is and– 

Wait. 

Keith stops, staring at Lance’s fingers for any sign of a ring or sorts. Nothing. He looked into Lance’s expectant eyes and saw the hidden confusion there, probably wondering if he should leave or keep talking. 

Wait a _damn_ minute. 

An idea arose in Keith’s mind, and he wants to plan it out carefully but his instincts keep telling– _screaming_ at him to do it already. He never was a patient person; once he thinks of something to do, he does it instantly with one clear objective in his mind. And his plan... it’s crazy and absurd and it’s the most riskiest risk he’ll ever take, but this situation leaves him with no other choice. 

As the saying goes, “ _Desperate times calls for desperate measures._ ” 

Keith gestures at Lance to come inside, and he did, reluctantly walking to Keith’s side and greeting Shiro and Zarkon politely. “Mr. Chairman Shirogane, sir. Mr. Vice Chairman Zarkon, sir.” Zarkon looked at him up and down, clearly not hiding his disgust and the condescending glint in his eyes when doing so. Shiro, being the nice person he is, greeted him back like what _normal people_ are _supposed_ to do. 

Keith pulled him to his side, and even though Lance is two inches taller than him, Keith manages to whisper in his ear, “Do not question anything and play along.” 

Lance managed to hide his confusion in front of Shiro and Zarkon and nods subtly. Keith is really glad Lance– _amazing, selfless, and kind Lance_ – is his assistant and he’s really glad he’s on his side. If he didn’t have him, Keith will be lost and probably deported right now. He faces the two again. “Gentlemen. I understand the predicament we are in. And– um, and there’s a, well. I think there’s something the two of you should know.” 

Shiro had a perplexed expression and Zarkon was obviously impatient, like he just wants to get this over with so he can go along with his plan to overthrow Keith. 

He’s never going to get that satisfaction. 

Keith steps closer to Lance and holds his hand, mustering the biggest and fakest smile he has ever done. “We’re getting married.” 

Shiro’s eyes widened extremely after those words left Keith’s mouth. Zarkon sputters in indignation, and like Shiro, not expecting at all for Keith to say those three words. 

“Who is getting married?” Lance whispered. 

“You and I.” Keith lays his head on his shoulder for more effect. “You and I are getting married.” 

Shiro and Zarkon turned to each other, wondering how the hell did their conversation turn out like this. While they were distracted, Lance gives Keith a mortified look, and Keith knows that he also wasn’t expecting Keith to say those words at all. “ _What the hell?_ ” He mouthed, eyes comically wide and his mouth curled in a horrified frown. 

“Just trust me.” Keith mumbles and starts to smile again when Shiro and Zarkon turned their heads to them again, both curious and suspicious. Zarkon points at Lance. “Isn’t he your secretary?” 

“Assistant.” Lance answers the same time Keith says, “Executive.” 

Zarkon raises an eyebrow at them suspiciously, and damn it, Keith really should’ve planned this out first. “Assistant secretary. Who cares about the titles?” Keith laughs, trying to lighten the mood, and giving Zarkon a knowing look. “Wouldn’t be the first time we fell for our secretaries, would it, Zarkon?” 

Keith was obviously talking about Zarkon’s wife– Honerva. But people just mainly call her Haggar. 

Before Zarkon became the Vice Chairman, he was also an editor who had an assistant. They fell in love, and if Keith doesn’t hate Zarkon so much, he even would’ve said that their love is beautiful. Unfortunately, their love became complicated and twisted in so many levels that Keith didn’t want to keep track of them anymore. All he knows is that when Zarkon got promoted to Vice Chairman, Haggar quit and nobody heard from her again. 

Well, there were rumors that they had a kid, but no one actually knows if that’s true. No one can confirm the ridiculousness of Zarkon having a child, or deny the possibility of Haggar having a child. With the two of them? It’s impossible to tell who wants a kid and who doesn’t. 

Shiro concealed his chuckle with a cough, and Keith grinned mischievously because Shiro always laughs behind Zarkon’s back when he’s not in the room. It’s just this time, Shiro really wants to laugh but can’t because Zarkon is literally beside him. 

Zarkon scowled at Keith and crossed his arms over his chest, his patience growing thin. 

“The truth is Lance and I,” Keith begins, carefully threading on fragile ground because everybody knows that he’s not a great liar and he’s obviously not a great talker either. “Lance and I were– we are just two people who weren’t meant to fall in love. But we did.” 

“No, we weren’t.” Lance agrees, his face oddly neutral. 

“All those late nights at the office, weekend book fairs...” Keith trails off, scratching the back of his head nervously, looking away from Zarkon and Shiro’s penetrating gaze in fear that if they look close enough, they would see right through his lies. “Yeah. Something happened.” 

“Something.” Lance nods along, and Keith commends him because he’s looking straight into Zarkon’s eyes, not at all afraid of him or his scrutinizing glare. 

“We tried to fight it.” Keith explains, grasping onto Lance’s hand tightly. Weirdly, just as much as Lance’s presence keeps him calm, Lance’s hand gave him a sort of warmth and peacefulness. If it wasn’t for this situation, Keith would’ve spent the entire day just... holding onto Lance’s hand. “But we can’t fight this love that we feel for each other. We are just happy together.” 

“Very happy.” Lance echoes and Keith wants to smack him. Can’t he think of something to add to his lie other than repeating the words Keith had already said?! While Keith subtly ~~not so subtly~~ glared at Lance, Shiro clapped his hands together and gathered both of their attention. “Keith, that’s terrific! Just make it legal.” Shiro pointed to the ring on his finger, and Keith immediately knows what he’s talking about.

Everyone in the entire company knows that Shiro is gay and married to the one and only: Adam. 

(After Shiro and Adam got married, Keith always jokes to Shiro that it’s not Adam and Eve, or Adam and Steve, but it’s Adam and _Shiro_. And Shiro gets annoyed by that every time.) 

Shiro and Adam have known each other ever since they were in high school. And throughout the years, Keith watched Shiro hopelessly pine over him, and always rants to Keith about how, “ _He doesn’t feel the same!_ ” or, “ _I know he’s gay, but is he gay for me?!_ ” And those days were the most stressful days Keith has ever experienced in his entire life. 

By the time they graduated college, Keith pushed Shiro to confess to Adam. Keith watched them, hiding in the shadows, as Shiro stuttered and stammered and was the most idiotic dumbass in the world in front of a cool, collected Adam. 

(Keith had also never felt _so much_ second–hand embarrassment while watching his brother.) 

Before Shiro could even confess, Adam just rolled his eyes and leaned in to kiss him, which surprised the _hell_ out of Shiro and Keith. Turns out, Adam likes Shiro too. Since high school. He was better hiding his feelings than Shiro because Shiro thought that he wasn’t interested in him in the slightest (and not to be a pessimist or something, _Keith_ also thought that Adam had no interest in his brother). After they kissed, Adam yelled for Keith to come out of where he was hiding now. 

Both Shiro and Keith were embarrassed and agreed never to talk about that day again, but at least Shiro and Adam finally got together. 

“Of course.” Keith replies with a smile, dragging Lance out of the room. “We need to get ourselves to the Immigration Office so we can sort this little mess out. Thank you very much, gentlemen, we will do that right away.” 

They exited the room and Keith finally exhales the breath he has been holding. Phew. He thought he’d never get that over with. Lance and him took the elevator in silence, and Keith thought of that as Lance processing the events that had just occurred. The doors opened and they walked to their office. 

Keith immediately took a seat and started doing paperwork, ignoring what just happened. But he can feel Lance’s questioning gaze on him and he stops, sighing as he meets his eyes. “What?” 

“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Lance says slowly, confusion written on his face. Keith sighed again. He thought that he’ll just have to deal with this later. Guess not. “They were going to make Sendak chief.” 

“So, naturally I have to _marry_ you?” Lance asks, clearly confused and horrified. 

Keith crossed his arms. “Were you saving yourself for someone special?” When they were in Shiro’s office, Keith noticed that Lance wasn’t wearing a ring, which can only mean that’s he’s not engaged or married. And other than that Nyma fiasco earlier in the morning, Keith doesn’t remember Lance ever mentioning a girl or if he’s in a relationship. And that can only mean that Lance is single like him. 

(And thank the heavens that Lance isn’t homophobic like all the world is.) 

“I’d like to think so.” Lance says defensively. “Besides, it’s illegal!” 

“It’ll be alright.” Keith waves off. They’ll plan what to do later. First, they need to head off to the Immigration office, get married, and decide what to do ‘till then. Keith goes back to stamping paperwork, assuming that the conversation is over with. But Lance has other ideas. 

“Mr. Kogane.” 

“Yes?” 

“I’m not going to marry you.” Lance enunciated. 

Keith holds in another sigh. Keith expected this to happen and he doesn’t want to do this. But Lance leaves him with no other choice. “Sure you are. Because if you don’t marry me, your dream of touching the lives of millions with written words is dead.” 

Keith sees how Lance is clearly taken aback, but then his expression melts off into anger. 

Keith knows that blackmail is wrong and bad, but there’s nothing else he can do to make Lance agree to this. Keith _really_ doesn’t want to be deported, and Lance is the _only_ person in the world (other than Shiro) that he trusts. “Look, Sendak is going to fire you the second I’m gone. Guaranteed. That means you’re out on the street alone looking for a job. That means all the times we spent together, all the lattes, all the canceled dates, all the midnight work are all for nothing. And all your dreams of being an editor are gone.” 

Lance’s shoulders fell in defeat. 

“But don’t worry. If we get married, you’ll be able to keep your job and I’ll keep mines and in a couple of months, we’ll get a divorce and we’ll be done with. So, like it or not, your wagon is hitched to mines.” 

Keith smiles. Lance’s eye twitched in annoyance, and Keith took that as an agreement. 

**Author's Note:**

> *time for some shameless self–promote* 
> 
> If you guys have any suggestions, or just want to bond over Lance, you can go to my [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/yes-i-do-love-my-fridge)!
> 
> If you guys want Fem!Lance & Klance, and Langst, read my other fic, “[the memory of letting go](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17116631/chapters/40255859)”. It’s about Feminine Lance’s experience about going to space and her memories prior to finding the Blue Lion. 
> 
> If you guys want an Actor Au & Klance, read my other fic, “[let us act our way through everything](https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/40261448?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false#main)”. It’s about Lance recruiting all of them to be in the TV show called, ‘Voltron’. 
> 
> If you guys want to read about a mind–meld malfunction and the team ending up on Lance’s memories and learning more about his backstory, read my other fic, “[This Could Be The Start (Of Something Big)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16421174/chapters/38445398).”


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